This essay argues that in King Hedley II, his sequel to Seven
Guitars, August Wilson presents a bleak picture of life for African
Americans living in the inner cities in the 1980s. King, the titular
protagonist and now-grown son of characters from Wilson’s
previous play, struggles to build a future in a world that constantly
reminds him that he doesn’t count. Wilson uses King, a character
thoroughly enmeshed in the inner-city hoodlum culture of “blood
for blood” violence, to dramatize a way to break that cycle and
navigate American reality. Although King is ultimately sacrificed
at the end of the play, he learns his own and his community’s
history and adopts a “bluesman” mentality, which allows him to
learn forgiveness and, thus, transcend cycles of violence.